Prosecutor drops fraud case against Czech PM – but story not over yet

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš can let out a sigh of relief, albeit a
temporary one. On Monday morning, Deník N broke the story that the state
attorney had halted the prosecution of Mr. Babiš for his alleged
involvement in the so-called Stork’s Nest affair. However, the story is
far from over as the decision is yet to be approved by the prosecutor’s
superiors and other legal moves are possible.

Andrej Babiš, photo: ČTK/Slavomír Kubeš
For four years now, Andrej Babiš has been facing an investigation into
allegations that he was involved in the wrongful acquisition of CZK 50
million in EU subsidies for the Stork’s Nest recreation complex near
Prague.

In March the police concluded the investigation and proposed that the prime
minister as well as a number of his family members and former colleagues
face trial.

However, on Monday, the daily Deník N reported that Jaroslav Šaroch, the
public prosecutor in charge of the investigation, had sent a letter to his
superiors at the Prague Public Prosecutor's Office asking to halt the
prosecution of the prime minister and other suspects.

The news was subsequently confirmed by the spokesman of the Prague Public
Prosecutor's Office, Aleš Cimbala.

“The supervising prosecutor has put forward his final decision in
regards
to the case referred to in the media as the ‘Storks Nest affair’. In
this he changed his original legal opinion on the matter. The chief public
prosecutor of the Prague Public Prosecutor's Office is now reviewing
this decision. He will also consider whether this change in opinion is
legal and reasonable.”

The case file contains more than 20,000 pages but still officials say the
review process should be completed within around a month.

Some people have drawn attention to the fact that Mr. Šaroch evidently
made a u-turn in his view of the matter.

“If Prague’s Public Prosecution Office said that the supervising
prosecutor has changed his legal opinion, one can expect that such a
decision will be explained convincingly, in part because of the length of
the ongoing criminal proceedings.”

Meanwhile, some opposition politicians have taken the opportunity to accuse
the prime minister of influencing the judicial system. Among them the
leader of the Pirate Party Ivan Bartoš, who told Deník N that “if
Mr.
Babiš were not prime minister, he would have been in jail already for a
long time”.

For years, Mr. Babiš has been proclaiming his innocence, describing the
affair as a “campaign” against him.

Street protests were held when during the spring the PM decided to appoint
a new
justice minister shortly after the police recommended that criminal charges
to be pressed against him.

Journalist and commentator Jan Moláček from Deník N says that even if
the current process ends with the prime minister’s exoneration, some will
still suspect him of exerting undue influence.

“First of all I need to stress that I do not criticise the state
attorney. We have been given no reasons for his decisions and it is of
course possible that the decision was made in a professional and fair
way.

Jan Moláček, photo: Khalil Baalbaki / Czech Radio"Whom I do criticise however, is Prime Minister Andrej Babiš,
because
he did not make the only possible and right decision for a politician who
finds themselves under a police investigation. That decision is of course
to step down and stay away from the position that gives you a chance to
influence the investigation.”

Even if those in charge of the Prague state attorney’s office uphold Mr.
Šaroch’s opinion, the Supreme Public Prosecutor, Pavel Zeman, would then
be able to cancel the extraordinary approval process. The latter refused to
comment on the case, but did not exclude the possibility that his office
may still get involved.